Christopher Ash, the Priority of Preaching, PT Media & Christian Focus 2009.
This book arises from addresses given the the 2008 EMA in London and is by the Director of the Cornhill Course.
Its a book for those in pastoral ministry or aspiring to be. The topic is preaching, but it is not a story of preachers or a series of 'how to' tips.
Rather it is a carefully argued encouragement for pastors to keep preaching as a central priority in ministry, to make their preaching expository and to preach in consecutive book-length series. The encouragement rests on evangelical assumptions about Scripture as God's living word and on a consideration of the form in which God has revealed himself. He revealed himself in books, so let us preach books!
There's an interesting discussion re the place of small groups verses preaching. Ash argues that being spoken to by someone (preaching) is a culturally universal and equalising experience, whereas small groups are a sub-cultural and possibly divisive experience with their assumptions about literacy, cognitive adeptness and verbal fluency. He also argues that the small group should complement preaching (and thus follow the sermon) by focusing on personal applications and accountability of Scripture and thus avoid the problem of shared ignorance driven by a amateurish efforts at interpretation. This is interesting indeed in the light of present trends to elevate small groups and diminish preaching.
As befits a book building on high assumptions about Scripture, the book is essentially a series of expositions from Deuteronomy. Christopher Ash thus puts his own assumptions and lessons into his words.
This is not a long or difficult book. It could be a great Saturday night read for the discouraged preacher who needs encouragement before the great task of the next day. I read it on a weekend when I preached three sermons in two hemispheres and was moved to bound from plane to pulpit.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Review: The Pastor As Minor Poet
Review: The Pastor As Minor Poet, M Craig Barnes, Eerdmans 2009
This book explores questions of pastoral identity and roles through the lens of poetry.
Its not a book of poems about pastors! Nor is it advocating that pastors give themselves to verse!
Rather, Barnes advocates a pastoral calling to penetrate below the surface of things to get to their meaning. Or, the move beneath naked realism to the truth below.
The book is structured around a series of pastoral scenes in the life of a pastor. These scenes introduce explorations of the nature and craft of the pastor's poetic calling and each scene is discussed in the following chapter. Part two gets down to soem detailed discussion about developing this poetic craft.
I found it a helpful and interesting book to read. Interesting because of the approach taken. Helpful in that it opens up another 'view' of pastoral ministry in a way that is easily understood and which challenges surface interpretations and responses.
This book explores questions of pastoral identity and roles through the lens of poetry.
Its not a book of poems about pastors! Nor is it advocating that pastors give themselves to verse!
Rather, Barnes advocates a pastoral calling to penetrate below the surface of things to get to their meaning. Or, the move beneath naked realism to the truth below.
The book is structured around a series of pastoral scenes in the life of a pastor. These scenes introduce explorations of the nature and craft of the pastor's poetic calling and each scene is discussed in the following chapter. Part two gets down to soem detailed discussion about developing this poetic craft.
I found it a helpful and interesting book to read. Interesting because of the approach taken. Helpful in that it opens up another 'view' of pastoral ministry in a way that is easily understood and which challenges surface interpretations and responses.
Faith Works
Faith Works
The Christian faith has many puzzles that seem to raise ‘either / or’ questions. Is God three or one? Was Jesus divine or human? Is the Bible divine or human? Does God rule everything or are we responsible? Do we need faith or works? Many of these puzzles have ‘both / and’ answers. But we need great care in the order and the balance of the ‘both / and’.
Let’s look at faith and works. Reformed Protestant Christians, such as we Presbyterians, stand on the truth that we are saved by God’s grace which is received by our faith. Starting with Abraham, we say that God’s righteousness is credited to our account through faith (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:1-5). Jesus’ simple statement that your faith has saved you (eg Lke 7:50) is thus expanded and generalised into the teaching that we know as ‘grace alone, faith alone’ (eg Rom 3:21-26; Eph 2:1-9). Thus we have no boast in our salvation and all the credit belongs to God.
At first glance the ‘faith or works’ question seems be decisively answered in favour of faith. Let’s take a second glance. What kind of faith are we talking about?
Abraham’s faith worked. Because he trusted God Abraham left home and headed for a foreign land (Gen 12:4). The same trust led him to Mnt Moriah to surrender his son’s life (Gen 22). Abraham’s periodic moments of disobedience to God (eg Gen 12:10-13; 1:1-2; 20:1-2) are really failures of faith. Because he did not trust God, he acted in his way rather than God’s way.
Faith works or it is not faith. Every act of obedience to God is an act of faith in God. Every act of disobedience to God is a denial of faith. Obedience is part of faith and faith is the necessary parent of obedience. We are indeed saved by grace through faith as God’s gift, but the necessary purpose of this is the good works that God made us for (Eph 2:8-10).
The ‘both / and’ of faith and works is a key balance. If we separate them and favour faith, we easily breed a useless and unproductive faith that is all talk and no walk. If we separate them and favour works, we are in the impossible position of trying to be right with God by what we do and independent of his grace in Jesus.
Let’s challenge each other that faith works. Let’s affirm that we are only saved by God’s grace in Jesus which we receive by faith alone. But let’s also affirm that the faith that saves is faith that works. Let’s stir one another up to such faith, for this is the faith that saves and which fulfils God’s purposes.
The Christian faith has many puzzles that seem to raise ‘either / or’ questions. Is God three or one? Was Jesus divine or human? Is the Bible divine or human? Does God rule everything or are we responsible? Do we need faith or works? Many of these puzzles have ‘both / and’ answers. But we need great care in the order and the balance of the ‘both / and’.
Let’s look at faith and works. Reformed Protestant Christians, such as we Presbyterians, stand on the truth that we are saved by God’s grace which is received by our faith. Starting with Abraham, we say that God’s righteousness is credited to our account through faith (Gen 15:6; Rom 4:1-5). Jesus’ simple statement that your faith has saved you (eg Lke 7:50) is thus expanded and generalised into the teaching that we know as ‘grace alone, faith alone’ (eg Rom 3:21-26; Eph 2:1-9). Thus we have no boast in our salvation and all the credit belongs to God.
At first glance the ‘faith or works’ question seems be decisively answered in favour of faith. Let’s take a second glance. What kind of faith are we talking about?
Abraham’s faith worked. Because he trusted God Abraham left home and headed for a foreign land (Gen 12:4). The same trust led him to Mnt Moriah to surrender his son’s life (Gen 22). Abraham’s periodic moments of disobedience to God (eg Gen 12:10-13; 1:1-2; 20:1-2) are really failures of faith. Because he did not trust God, he acted in his way rather than God’s way.
Faith works or it is not faith. Every act of obedience to God is an act of faith in God. Every act of disobedience to God is a denial of faith. Obedience is part of faith and faith is the necessary parent of obedience. We are indeed saved by grace through faith as God’s gift, but the necessary purpose of this is the good works that God made us for (Eph 2:8-10).
The ‘both / and’ of faith and works is a key balance. If we separate them and favour faith, we easily breed a useless and unproductive faith that is all talk and no walk. If we separate them and favour works, we are in the impossible position of trying to be right with God by what we do and independent of his grace in Jesus.
Let’s challenge each other that faith works. Let’s affirm that we are only saved by God’s grace in Jesus which we receive by faith alone. But let’s also affirm that the faith that saves is faith that works. Let’s stir one another up to such faith, for this is the faith that saves and which fulfils God’s purposes.
Sunday, July 19, 2009
Rome exists only in her ruins
While recently on holiday I spent a morning wandering among the ruins of a once great city of the Roman Empire.
The Roman empire sought to crush the kingdom of God as represented by Jesus and his followers.
Rome now exists only in her ruins.
Tthe cause of Christ lives in his living church and its living Lord who reigns from heaven and who sweeps the rermains of once-great empires into the dustbin of history.
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